Rise from the ashes
by DarkVsLight346
Summary: Phoenix was a simple teenage boy who unlike most of the other children in the world had no interest in Pokemon. However when he moves into a small town called Litteroot he finds his previous lifestyle challenged and he is forced to become a trainer despite his best wishes. Will he survive this journey? Who knows but one thing is for sure it's going to be painful.


**A/N well this is the first chapter of my Pokémon story. Just to let you know it's going to be around as dark as the Pokémon adventures manga. Also this is not a nuzlocke but it will feature Pokémon dying and the battles will be a lot more violent than the anime does it, so it's nuzlocke themed. Also like most nuzlockes Pokémon can speak, the reason for this is because I believe it helps trainers bond with their Pokémon better plus it would make for some interesting dialog. Now that's that over let's begin the story.**

A teenage boy awoke from his slumber, his initial thoughts being a sense of gratefulness over the fact that there was little to no light in the room so it didn't hurt his eyes when he opened them. In a matter of seconds he remembered that despite being on a bed he wasn't in his old room rather he was in a moving truck getting ready to send him off to Littleroot town, a place he wasn't optimistic to visit.

He was initially offered to get into a car the league sent for them, but choose to ride in the moving truck as he wasn't very enthusiastic to 'see the sights' as his mother put it. That and the fact he wanted to sleep and not have his mother point out all the supposedly amazing sights they would pass. Looking at his phone he noticed he was only asleep for four hours at most, he was awake for the entire 18 hour flight, due to the fact he was far too terrified of the plane crashing to get a wink of sleep and hoped they would be a few more hours from their destination so he could get some more sleep.

Unfortunately for him luck was not on his side as he could feel the truck stopping. He hoped they had just hit a red light so he could still relax but those hopes were dashed when the door of the truck opened up and light began to flood the room causing him to cover his eyes in pain.

As the doors opened he heard a feminine voice say "For thousands of years this mystical creature laid dormant, now his slumber has finally come to an end, who dares disturb him?"

Groaning the boy said "Mother I'm not in the mood, can't we do this later?"

The female voice laughed and said "Come on Nick stop being such a grump and come outside."

Rubbing his head he stood up as replied "Fine if it will make you happy and can you at least call me by my real name, Phoenix. I really don't understand why you gave me that name if you just choose to call me by that nickname."

Once he finished speaking he got out of the truck covering his eyes from the bright sunlight. His hair was black as coal and was unkempt as if it hadn't been combed in months. He wore dark blue jeans, along with an unbuttoned grey shirt, white T shirt and a black jacket.

His mother quickly replied in a cheery tone "Aw but Nick is much cuter than Phoenix and it suits you better."

Phoenix looked ahead and saw a woman who despite what here youthful appearance might suggest was in her early to mid-forties. Her brown hair was tied into twin pigtails at the back but was arranged into a zigzag pattern thanks to her favorite hairspray. She wore a lavender blouse which matched her eyes and a purple skirt which ended an inch or two above her knee. She stood around five feet six inches around two inches shorter than her son.

He then groaned and said "Mother please I'm seventeen I'm not a child, technically I'm also not an adult, but certainly not a child."

His mother, also known as Caroline, walked up to him and patted his head a bit as she said "I don't really care and besides let's go inside and see our new home."

Rolling his eyes Phoenix looked at their house and despite hearing it was built over ten years ago it looked brand new, at least from the outside.

His mother smiled and said "In case you were wondering your father had the entire house done up for us. He even brought in the rest of our furniture and decorated the entire place."

Phoenix raised an eyebrow as he said "Wait how can he take a day off work for that, he just started."

"Oh well his gym work didn't start till yesterday, that's why he didn't come to pick us up. You would know that if you didn't ignore everything I said, just because you don't think it's important."

Phoenix let out a sigh of relief as his mother continued to speak about something he deemed irrelevant. Every time his father was with him they would often argue, to the point most family members said they would rather be in a middle of a field of landmines than go to a family reunion with them. However the absence of his father did little to improve his attitude toward their new house.

"Well Phoenix what do you think about the house?" Caroline asked trying to break the silence.

Phoenix looked at it and replied "All I can say is it's the best looking prison I have ever seen."

Caroline rolled her eyes and did her best to avoid hitting the back of his head as she replied in a snarky tone "Well Dr. Sarcasm, maybe if you stop complaining you might actually like this place, any way just get inside, before we give our neighbors a bad impression of us."

Deciding it wasn't worth arguing about Phoenix took the key from his mother and opened the door. As he looked around the room, he noticed his mother was telling the truth as the living room was fully furnished, however to his displeasure it was mostly new furniture.

"Oh great." He muttered, "Well god forbid he decide to keep anything from our old home here."

Caroline patted her son's back trying to comfort him as she said "I know it might be hard to adapt to this house but look on the bright side at least you can still continue your studies here. I mean you will be going to a really good university."

His frown only grew larger as he said "Oh yes going from doing my masters in one of the best Universities in Kanto to a good one in Hoenn, I might as well buy a banjo and join a hillbilly band."

"Whatever makes you happy dear." Caroline said without batting an eye "Also your father brought you a new clock to mark the occasion would you mind setting the time; your room is on the next floor second room to the left."

Despite his mood he decided to obey her and as he began to move up the stairs his mother called out to him and said "Oh and you might want to use your time here to make some friends, I mean you didn't have any back in Kanto because well…"

"Everyone I met was an idiot and wasn't worth my time?" Phoenix said without even the slightest hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Rolling her eyes his mother continued "Yes I'm sure that was the reason, anyway you can have a fresh start and be able to make new friends."

"Can you stop bringing up that topic mother?" Phoenix replied while rubbing his temples, "Some people need friends and some people don't, I am of the latter group, why is it so hard for you to understand that?"

Hear that his mother sighed as Phoenix continued to go up the stair, however as he was close to the top she heard him mutter "Besides even if I get friends eventually they'll just leave me."

Her expression saddened as she heard this and despite him being out of earshot she said "I'd really wish you could move on past that Phoenix."

* * *

After making his way to the room and setting the clock he looked around the room and noticed it was spacious, so at least he would be comfortable. He decided to get some rest before dinner and the second he laid on his bed he fell asleep. However his brief slumber was disturbed once again when he heard a knock on the door."

Without even lifting his head off the pillow he said "Unless the house is on fire, I'm not interested." As the door opened he sighed and said "Why do you even knock if you just plan to barge right in?"

Ignoring the question his mother said "Hey let's go visit our neighbors."

"Can you even give me one good reason why we have to go?"

"I can give you three, first one of our neighbors is a really good friend of your fathers, secondly it's never a bad thing to meet new people…"

Finally looking up Phoenix said "It is if they are kidnappers, serial killers or door to door salesmen."

"I'm pretty sure they aren't that bad and finally I heard they have a really cute daughter, who's single so…"

Phoenix shot her an annoyed look and said "If I agree to go with you, to meet these people will you stop harassing me to find a partner?"

After a moment of consideration she finally answered "I can only promise to try. Besides if you go with me I'll make you mac and cheese with bacon for dinner.

* * *

Phoenix cursed his stomach for being so weak for agreeing to come with her for such a low but admittedly tasty price. Meanwhile his mother knocked on the door a few times but there was no answer, this made Phoenix feel a bit relived as he wouldn't have to go through meeting and interacting with strangers, however as they were about to turn around and leave the door was opened by a woman around the same age as his mother. She was wearing a brown dress with white polka dot and had a white apron tried around her. Her hair was tied in a neat pony tail and she had a warm look on her face.

Caroline took the initiative and said "Hello my Name is Caroline and this is my son Phoenix, we're your next door neighbors."

The lady smiled and said "Oh so you must be Norman's family." At that moment Phoenix felt his mother elbowing him as if trying to say, 'do not give a snarky response to that'. The lady either ignored or didn't notice it as she continued "My name is Amanda Birch, please come on in."

The two of them stepped inside the house and were taken back by how the house, minus the décor was a mirror image of theirs, the kitchen looked exactly like theirs but instead of being on the left was on the right side. The windows, the doors even the wash rooms appeared to be a mirror reflection of their own house.

Mrs. Birch noticed the shock and said "Oh right I should have told you these houses were once owned by the same person and he wanted to make sure they were symmetrical, so he built them to be mirror images of the other, but for some reason he sold them after a year."

Phoenix quickly recovered from his initial shock much faster than his mother did and gave his normal frown in a matter of seconds. He could understand the need to have something in perfect symmetry, but began to wonder if there was some sort of a passage way which connected both houses together, if so he knew he had to destroy it if he was to even try and enjoy himself here.

Ms. Birch looked at Phoenix and said "Oh Phoenix I have a daughter around your age her name is May, would you like to meet her? It would be more interesting to you than hearing us talk."

Phoenix tried to decline the request but his mother cut him off and said "He'll be happy to right Nick?"

"Of course I will." Phoenix said hesitantly and then muttered "Not like I have a choice on the matter."

Amanda pointed up and said "She's on the next floor, sec..."

"Let me guess second room to the right, if the houses are mirror images of each other it would make sense."

Ms. Birch nodded at that and said "Wow Norman was right he does learn fast."

Caroline jabbed him in the side again and said "Phoenix that was really rude."

Amanda laughed and said "Don't worry Caroline, anyway should go up and meet May, she was looking forward to making a new friend."

"What a coincidence so was Phoenix, well son what are you waiting for, you should go up now." Ignoring his mother's lie he went up the stairs as the two women sat down and began to talk about something, he didn't really care about

Phoenix finally got to the door and knocked loudly. After a few moments without a reply he knocked again with the same amount of success. As he was about to knock again the door opened slightly and feeling curious he pushed it to see that there was no one inside the room.

He looked around and said "Is anyone here?" Phoenix was a bit unnerved by the silence in the room it looked like something out a bad horror movie.

After a few seconds Phoenix was more than happy to call this mission a failure and leave the room but he suddenly heard a loud female voice shout "Stop right there intruder."

He turned around and saw a girl around his age charging at him and jumping up with her foot in the air looking like she was about to kick him. He quickly moved his head to the side and grabbed her leg. This caught her by surprise and he quickly threw her back. She got up in a matter of seconds and pulling her fist back she launched a punch at Phoenix who countered the attack with a swift kick.

The collision caused Phoenix to lose his balance for a second and fall to the ground, while the girl clutched her fist and said "Hey that hurt, it's cheating to wear shoes when you kick someone."

Phoenix growled at her and said "Well maybe if you don't attack people like a crazy person, they wouldn't have to fight back."

The girl gave him an annoyed look and said "You stepped into my room without my permission so I took action."

Phoenix returned the annoyed look and said "What did you think I was going to do? Attack you after I knocked twice, walked inside after your door mysteriously opened and asked if you were there. If I was looking to cause you physical harm, which right now is something I am heavily debating doing, I would have to be the dumbest attacker in the world."

Her annoyance seamed to fade as she heard him speak and said "I guess that might be true I'm sorry for attacking you like that, my name is May Birch what's yours?"

Phoenix got up and said "My name is Phoenix Ruberto, your next door neighbor who is heavily regretting this visit."

Phoenix got up and got a better look at his assailant. Her hair was brown, with long pigtails and short bangs falling on her forehead and a red and white head scarf tied on it. This took away focus from her piercing grey eyes. Her attire was an orange sleeveless shirt with small black frills at the bottom, white short shorts with black bike shorts underneath which revealed much of her legs. The most noticeable feature of her however was her rather curvaceous large chest which Phoenix paid little attention to.

May looked at Phoenix and smiled as she said "Nice to meet you Phoenix and I have to ask when the last time you picked up a comb was? Your hair looks like it was hit by a hurricane, after two trains collided inside of it."

Phoenix scoffed and said "About the same time as when you last wore a bra, I mean you have guests over do you have any shame at all?"

Instead of being embarrassed by his words she simply laughed at him and said "Oh and tell me what kind of pervert are you staring at an innocent girl's bust shame on you."

Phoenix was about to reply but May's expression quickly turned to a flirty one as she continued "Although you don't look half bad despite that mess on your head I mean I might actually fall for you." She then got closer to Phoenix than he would have liked as she continued "My mom's downstairs so we can do whatever we like here and no one has to know."

As she finished she winked at him which took Phoenix's calm demeanor and completely threw it out the window. He never had a woman talk to him like this so he was frozen trying to understand what happened ad trying to make sense of the entire situation.

However May began to giggle and soon burst into laughter. She looked at the embarrassed Phoenix and said "Calm down Phoenix it was a joke, I'm not the kind of girl who jumps into bed with the first guy she meets, I was just trying to reduce the tension in the room."

Phoenix turned around as he said "You failed miserably and only confirmed my thoughts that this was a mistake, I'll be leaving now with the little bit of dignity I have left."

May quickly grabbed him by the arm and said "Come on it was a joke, get a sense of humor."

He looked at her and growled "It was a terrible joke now let go." He pulled his arm back but unfortunately he pulled too hard as the sudden jerk caused May to crash into him and knock him on the floor.

May rubbed her head as Phoenix turned around to lay on his back. May looked at Phoenix to try and apologize but saw something on his face. Phoenix noticed this and tried to brush his hair to cover his face however May quickly reached out and pulled his hair up and gasped at what she saw. There was a large scar on his face, the scar began above his right eye and extend to below his left eye. Phoenix glared at her and brushed his hair to cover up the scar.

May looked at Phoenix face a bit closer as if she was trying to study him. Phoenix quickly snapped her out of it as he barked "It's called a scar woman, so if you are done gawking at it I'd like to leave now."

May quickly replied "Wait stop I wasn't creeped out by the scar, if that's what you're thinking I actually thought it was pretty cool."

Phoenix stopped and said "It doesn't matter what you think, there is nothing cool about this scar, I could tell you why but I don't have time to explain it to you."

As he finished he walked outside the door followed by May who was saying "Wait to be honest it makes you look kind of …" May didn't get the chance to finish her sentence before Phoenix slammed her door in her face, while ignoring the groan of pain she made.

Phoenix walked out of the house undetected by the two women who were still engrossed in another pointless conversation. As he was about to make his way to his house he heard something coming toward him. He turned his head and saw a young girl, no older than seven or eight, with her hair in a ponytail running toward him.

She looked rather panicked as Phoenix noticed she was trying to speak but couldn't form the words. She finally was able to say "Mister you have to help the person in the forest."

Phoenix raised an eyebrow and said "What are you talking about child?"

She looked at him, somewhat intimidated by his appearance and tone of voice which made it hard for her to speak. She finally said "I think somewhat is being attacked in the forest but I don't have any Pokémon of my own to see what's going on. Can you go look for me please?"

Phoenix tried to say no believing it was just caused by an overactive imagination but looking into her begging eyes found it difficult to refuse her request so deciding to humor he said "Fine little girl I will see what's going on but I suspect it is not something of importance." Phoenix decided to ignore her thanks for his action and made his way to the gap between the town and the route connected to it.

As he got close he heard a loud booming voice shout out "SOMEONE PLEASE HELP ME!"

Hearing that Phoenix began to dart toward the route fearing the girl may have been right. As he got into the route he saw something that made him stop in his tracks and stare at it. It appeared to be a big bulky man almost 6 feet tall, dressed in shorts and a white lab coat being chased by a small brown fox like Pokémon, from the look of it an eevee.

The man looked at him and said while running around "Oh good someone came to help, please take a Pokémon from my bag over to your left and save me from this eevee."

Phoenix looked at him and said in a deadpanned voice "It doesn't even reach up to your knees just kick it and walk off."

The man quickly replied "But that would be abuse to Pokémon, that's wrong."

Phoenix rolled his eyes and said "Yes because sending another Pokémon to fight it is much less barbaric."

The man replied again this time a bit more agitated "Just take a Pokémon from my bag and help me before it hurts me."

Letting out a sigh Phoenix decided to agree to his plan if just to get him to stop talking. He walked toward the bag and put his hand in and took out a red and white orb.

He turned his head to the eevee and said "Hey over here you dumb mutt."

The eevee turned toward him and looked at him with an annoyed look on its face. Leaving the man alone it began to run toward Phoenix who threw the ball onto the ground letting out a red silhouetted figure.

 **A/N Well that was the first chapter let me know what you guys think of it and how I can improve on it. Also my question for you is which starter do you, think Phoenix picked. I'll give you a hint it's final form's mega evolution looks like a popular DBZ villain.**


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